#53 BAR TIPS: Straight up business with Neil Rogers
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Neil: [00:00:00] When something goes wrong, don't blame anybody else. Take ownership of it. How could I have done better? What was my role in this? how could, what did, what can I learn from this? So this is not repeated.
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Claire: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Small Town Entrepreneur. You're here with me, your host, Claire Bouffier. Now, for most of you know that I love talking about digital transformations and the world of AI is fascinating, but today we're going to be taking a little different spin and we're going to explore how we can [00:01:00] maintain our humanness in this rapidly moving place.
Claire: That is dominated in every aspect in artificial intelligence. And today we have a guest, author Neil Rogers. Who has transitioned beautifully from the worlds of hospitality industry to writing a book called Bar Tips. And this is particularly fascinating for someone that used to be in the serving industry for many years, not as long as Neil.
Claire: But this book is built and dedicated to actionable insights for those people in sales and creating sales success. And after a life saving surgery and encouragement from his dear friend, Terry, Neil discovered that principles of human connection and incremental improvement are even more crucial in today's digital age.
Claire: So welcome to the show, Neil Rogers. It's a pleasure to have you.
Neil: Claire, how are you? Good to be here with you.
Claire: This is fun because as [00:02:00] someone that, you know, You know, danced around tables and bars and served customers. And you've been in the space for a long time. I love this concept of you going from the world of hospitality and let's go back. What led you to write this book? What was the driving factor?
Neil: Well, I was trying to keep myself from going crazy. Great. So I actually talked to Terry, and he said, he says, you should write a book. I said, what am I going to write on? Right. Ultimately, you know, it's like I've had a good life. I'm going to success, success in my lane. Right.
Claire: I was 19
Neil: years old and, it was the first bar job I ever had I went in there and I discovered. I like this. I like that feeling of serving somebody. And it was really a transformative experience for me. So I wrote a whole thing on that, about how the experience, what type of place it was, the type of people that went there, and all that. So I had that.
Claire: You know, maybe they haven't read the book. What [00:03:00] can people do today? To change the game, whether they're working in hospitality or not. What is it that you're noticing that you've seen? And obviously when you started a bar, there wasn't the guy at the entrance looking at his phone because there were no phones and I can happily say I'm the hybrid generation.
Claire: I grew up with no internet, no cell phones, not until my adult years did this come into play. So it's funny. I kind of balance between the two worlds with someone with. So many years in hospitality, you've obviously noticed a huge change in. The way we work, um, but what is it that if someone doesn't have the opportunity or not working a bar, what are the things that people should be dedicating time to learning?
Claire: And, you know, anything's learnable, right? Like listening. You've you talk a lot about just. Being a good listener, you've talked about, you know, um, you know, and it comes down to asking good [00:04:00] questions, letting people, other people speak, other people talk about themselves. What are things that we can do to create these environments that improve the human connection?
Neil: One is the first thing, and this is something we've learned later on in life.
It's called positive activity. Simple things you do. So getting your mind right, so that you can, you can shed whatever, whatever cobwebs you got from the, you know, the, from the waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
Neil: Or what happened at home, the dog, the dog did this or whatever that, whatever that is.
Claire: That gets
Neil: you in a place of open minded, divergent thinking, solution, providing creativity. You're happy, you're happy, and you're open.
Claire: I have spoken enough times and you've probably heard it, but the word sales and everyone says, ah, I hear slimy.
Claire: That salesy. Um, it's, it's pushy. What's [00:05:00] your take on sales?
Neil: We're, we are in the relationship building business,
Claire: right?
Neil: We called it sales, but in the end it was relationship building. As I look back on it, because I gave them the cocktail napkin, I asked them, what did you, what would you like to drink?
Neil: I poured it to perfection. I asked them how their day was. Can I get you something else? Do you need to see a menu? So I'm just the same thing. I'm asking them, you know, I'm not being a pest. So , we do this whole thing where we separate. Persistence versus tenacity. Persistence sounds like pest for a reason. Kind of like, why aren't you buying from me?
Neil: What's wrong with you?
Claire: The nagging salesman.
Neil: You know, come on. Why don't you want to buy my life insurance balls? People don't want products. They want benefits.
Right.
Claire: Is there one thing that you've learned in sales that you could tell your younger self?
Neil: So I've been chipping away [00:06:00] at negativity my whole life. Should I have had a better attitude and that I did, but I was like, why do I want to do that?
Because again of the positive activity aspect of it.
Neil: Don't, don't take them all on at once and, and fail. And if you do wind up not, you know, not doing it one day or two days. So what about on the third day, give yourself grace. You know, you're going to feel it. You're going to, I tell you right now, everybody, when I do this, I feel better than when I don't.
Neil: When I do the things that are in that book, I am more successful than when I don't. I talk about my successes in the book. I've had some swings and a miss, right? And it's where
Claire: I
Neil: did not use my process and process.
Claire: I agree.
Claire: I like it.
Claire: To wrap up today's episode, Neil, is there one last piece of advice that are those listeners that want to build [00:07:00] businesses and build their personal brands. What is it that they should be doing?
Neil: When something goes wrong, don't blame anybody else. Take ownership of it. How could I have done better? What was my role in this? how could, what did, what can I learn from this? So this is not repeated. Make sure they're they're more careful because Here's the effect that it had on my my work today And I I kept it inside and I I didn't put any I didn't throw anybody under the bus Just asking your your grace to make sure that you know, we're making sure that happens right and so And it works in life, too You You know, it's like if you have, you know, you left here, I don't know.
Neil: I'm trying to think of something off the top of my head, but anything around the house or whatever, it's like, okay, where, where can I, where can I have been nicer? Maybe I said the wrong thing. Maybe I stepped out of line. Okay. Examine it. And more often than not, when you get into that beef, you get home, you get home, you know, two hours [00:08:00] later, you go, you know, it was really on me.
Neil: I really should have watched what I was, where I was. So if you start from there, you're less likely to make the, make the, um, make the mistake. And I guess the last thing, always be humble and kind. Love it.
Claire: Love it. And that's,
Neil: I'm stealing that one from Laurie McKenna, who wrote that for, for Tim McGraw.
Claire: Oh! She
Neil: performed that right down the street. That
Claire: is awesome. Neil Rogers. It's been a pleasure. You are a true story, man. And it's so nice to hear a different side of the business world and leading through human to human connection, building relationships. Thank you for being on the small town entrepreneur podcast, and we will see you, the listeners next week.
Claire: Cheers. Thank you all. See you
Neil: guys.
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